U.S. denies targeting Syrian mosque in airstrike

The aftermath of an airstrike in Idlib, Syria.
(Image credit: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images)

Several suspected terrorists were killed Thursday when a U.S. airstrike hit an al Qaeda meeting in the Syrian province of Idlib, a senior military official told NBC News.

Some human rights activists and monitoring groups say the U.S. was also behind an airstrike that destroyed a mosque in the rebel-held village of al-Jinnah, killing at least 42 people. The military official told NBC News that there was a mosque about 50 feet or so from the al Qaeda meeting place, but the U.S. has photographic evidence showing that the mosque was never hit and is still intact. The official did admit it's possible someone else later hit or blew up the mosque.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.